When going to see a movie, many of us probably go out of our way to make sure the theater has been upgraded with high-res digital projectors. The golden age of film might be behind us, but as engineer guy Bill Hammack explains, the projector is still an impressive feat of mechanical design, capable of creating one of the best optical illusions of all time.

It’s taken for granted that flashing a series of still images in front of our eyes will fool the brain into seeing motion, but creating that illusion is actually far more complicated as Hammack explains in this video.

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It might look like film is simply being dragged through a projector, but the engineering that ensures that each frame of the projected image isn’t just a blur on screen will give you a newfound appreciation for a technology that’s been in use for well over 100 years.